Housing affordability one of the main issues as cabinet meets for three days in P.E.I.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    I worry anything like this would be a gateway to other anti-immigrant sentiment. Immigrants are good for the economy everywhere in the first world, it’s just that they’re also highly unpopular most places, and I’d like to keep our advantage in tolerance.

    • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Of course they are both good and very much needed. So knowing that, lets fucking build the housing infrastructure to support them first.

      You don’t start spraying water in your backyard before the pool has been built…

      • festus@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        My worry is that there’s so much NIMBYism against building housing so that if we slow down immigration for housing to catch-up then with the lower urgency we’ll just not build.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Agreed. We need doctors and construction workers, but for some reason executives are still at the top of the priority list for express entry (assuming I read that morass correctly).

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Yes, I don’t like how immigrants are being blamed for yet another problem. Immigrants aren’t the reason nobody is building affordable housing. Immigrants aren’t the reason mega corporations like BlackRock are buying up every parcel of real estate they can get. Immigrants didn’t cause the housing market collapse of 2008.

      Immigrants want to make a better life for themselves and their families in our great country and they’re willing to work hard and use their skills to do it. Hard working labourers aren’t the enemy. Once again, it’s executives, brokers, and shareholders.

    • shadysus@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      From article, it looks like it’s on the mind of the party leaders too, just in a bit of a weird way

      Fraser cautioned against blaming the lack of affordable housing on new immigrants.

      “Let’s look at what the actual cause of the challenges are that we’re dealing with, and recognize that immigration can actually be used as a tool to bring the workers that we need to build more homes,” he said.

      “We have to be really, really careful that we don’t have a conversation that somehow blames newcomers for the housing challenges that have been several decades in the works in Canada.”

      Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of doing just that during his own media availability in Ottawa on Monday.

      “He wants Canadians to forget all that and blame immigrants. He wants to divide people to distract from his failings,” he said.

      “He thinks if you’re afraid of your neighbour you might forget that you can’t pay your rent. This is what demagogues do.”

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        “He wants Canadians to forget all that and blame immigrants. He wants to divide people to distract from his failings,” he said.

        “He thinks if you’re afraid of your neighbour you might forget that you can’t pay your rent. This is what demagogues do.”

        Wow, things you don’t expect to hear from a conservative. If this was the version of Poilievre we got all the time I’d relax a bit, but he also goes the other way and hangs out with loonies sometimes.

      • tarsn@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Mixed bag really. Increased labour supply drives down wages, but you also need people to do all the work and we have an aging population. Also need a tax base to fund our social services.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          Immigrants also buy stuff, creating more jobs, so actually the demographic benefits are the main effect. If you think about it, there’s always one worker per worker.

          Plus, I’d like to point out immigrants are people too and their opinion matters. The debate about this gets so dehumanising.